Where In The PNW Are David, Theo & Ruby?

PNW is a short way to say Pacific Northwest, for those who for some reason do not know this. When I saw the photo above which came with that PNW question my first thought was that David, Theo & Ruby must have taken their parental units to the other side of the mountains, also known as Eastern Washington, to some location on the Columbia River. But the beach and the driftwood did not look quite right to be the Columbia River.

And then a second photo arrived with text suggesting that "maybe this view would help".

And with this help I did manage to accurately guess that David, Ruby & Theo were somewhere on the Puget Sound, most likely, maybe, Point Defiance.

And then three more photos arrived, with explanatory text which solved the location mystery...

So I’ll tell you cuz I don’t think you’ll figure it out. We walked from Owen beach at Point Defiance all the way around the tip until we could see the Narrows bridge. It was amazing. We heard that there’s a big drop off where seals hang out and people had recently seen Orcas like ten feet off the beach feeding on the seals. We didn’t see whales but those are seals behind David. I counted 31. You have to do this at low tide and we checked the tide table today and it was a minus tide this afternoon so we hustled over there. So awesome, even with no whales. In the family selfie, you can see the bridge to the right of Kristin’s head. In the pic of me and the kids up high, that’s Vashon sticking out behind us.

That's David with the flock of seals in the water behind him.

I think I can sort of see one of the towers of the twin Tacoma Narrows Suspension bridges to the right of Kristin's curls.

According to the information provided, that is Vashon sticking out into the Sound from the middle of the big rock on which David, Theo, Ruby & Michele are posing.

To those unfamiliar with such things, such as denizens of Fort Worth, Texas, Vashon is what is known as an island, as in its full name is Vashon Island. This is a real island, surrounded by real water of the crystal clear saltwater variety, not an imaginary island which may be one day surrounded by a cement lined ditch.

One can take a ferry boat from Point Defiance to Vashon Island.

So far the ridiculous Fort Worth absurdity which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle has not added ferry boat service to the imaginary wonders of the imaginary project. Though there is a Houseboat District in the Panther Island District of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

And just this week touring tiny cruise ships have been added as a possibility for floating on the Trinity River, in addition to inner tubing whilst Rockin' the River in polluted brown soup. I've had multiple people point me to the info about those Trinity River touring tiny cruise ships. Maybe I'll get around to looking closer at that new ridiculousness.

And then one final photo arrived...

With the text telling us "Wore this one out! We stopped to get some fresh local strawberries on our way home but Theo had fallen asleep!"

I focused on the fresh local strawberries element of the above. I can not remember when last I had a strawberry which actually tasted like a strawberry. There is a farm near Wichita Falls, I think the name is Young's Farm, but I am not sure. Just a sec, I shall consult Google.

Well, I was close. It is Young's Orchard & Berry Farm.

I have had their blackberries, in cobbler form, at the Wichita Falls Farmers Market. And those blackberries were good. So, I suspect the Young's Orchard & Berry Farm strawberries are likely mighty fine too.

I wonder if the season for picking them is over?

And I also wonder where in the PNW David, Theo & Ruby will be taking us to next?

There has been some mention made of checking out Tacoma's new Dune Peninsula development after its grand opening on July 6,  before David, Theo & Ruby fly their parental units to San Diego for some fun in the sun dodging Pacific Ocean stingrays with Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack, while their favorite uncle is in Arizona having fun with Grandma...

Bike Riding With Theo To Fort Nisqually In Tacoma's Point Defiance Park

Today is the first day since my bike was stolen which has the outer world warm enough that I would have gone on a bike ride today, if I still had a pair of rolling wheels.

Just when I was finding myself feeling just a little melancholy in came some pictures from Tacoma which quickly had me having a bout of feeling homesick.

Apparently today Theo took Mama Kristin to Tacoma's Point Defiance Park to ride their bikes during the weekly Saturday closed to cars period.

Point Defiance Park is enormous. One of the biggest city parks in the world. In Point Defiance Park's 760 acres you will find "Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Rose Garden, Rhododendron Garden, beaches, trails, a boardwalk, a boathouse, a Washington State Ferries ferry dock for the Point Defiance-Tahlequah route to Vashon Island, Fort Nisqually, an off-leash dog park, and most notably a stand of old-growth forest."

All in quotation marks and in italics in the above paragraph was from the Wikipedia article about Point Defiance Park.

Also from the Wikipedia article, "Portions of The Five Mile Drive are closed to cars on Saturday. There are many hiking trails along Pt. Defiance's cliffs, that have sweeping views of Vashon Island, Dalco Passage, Gig Harbor, and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The road network also passes by Fort Nisqually."

In the imaginary world class Texas city I lived in prior to moving to Wichita Falls there was nary a single city park worthy of a Wikipedia article. That town was named after a fort, which was actually a camp, made up of tents, eventually designated as a fort, even though there was no fortress of the sort one thinks of when one sees the "fort" word.

Fort Nisqually in Tacoma, in Point Defiance Park, is a classic frontier fort of the fort stereotype sort. You know, a wood stockade surrounding a fortified area. Just Googled to find there is an extensive Wikipedia article about Fort Nisqually.

Now that is sort of ironic, there is no Wikipedia article about Fort Worth, the fort, from whence the town got its name, it being a town named after a fort where there is no longer any semblance of a fort.

However, there is a run down boarded up eyesore of a park, called Heritage Park, which pays homage to Fort Worth's fort heritage, in the north end of that world class town's downtown, on a bluff overlooking the location of America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Above that is Theo riding along surrounded by some of that old growth forest mentioned in the Wikipedia article about Point Defiance Park. Being in a forest of tall old growth trees is soothing. And it smells real good.

In the photo at the top Theo is stopped at a point along one of those cliffs also mentioned in the Wikipedia article. Vashon Island is also mentioned. I think that is Vashon Island in the distance behind Theo. For those in Fort Worth not familiar with the concept. An island is a chunk of land surrounded by a large body of water. In the case of Vashon Island, it is surrounded by the south end of Puget Sound, which is an inlet of this really big body of water called the Pacific Ocean.

Digging a ditch around a chunk of urban wasteland and then filling that ditch with dirty water does not an island make. Of course there is no law forbidding someone from calling such a chunk of land an island, but doing so just opens a town up to being laughed at, ridiculed and makes ones town appear to be, well, a clueless backwards backwater that is certainly not world class...